The upgrades, using WTT technology, at the facility in Duke Point at Vancouver Island, in the regional District of Nanaimo have reduced the composting times from six to eight months to only 15 days.
During the re-opening event on Monday 29th of August, Convertus Group CEO Mike Leopold said new-tech in-vessel composting allows them to process much more organics, produce a great soil and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The facility is critical in allowing to meet the 90 per cent diversion goal from landfill, and the City’s committed to eliminate all organic waste from landfill by 2030.
Sean Kawakami, business development manager for Convertus Group said the site was capable of processing 20,000 tonnes of organics per year, however, with the addition of four tunnels, they were able to nearly triple the processing up to 58,000 tonnes. This makes it the largest processing site by weight of organics on Vancouver Island.
Leopold comments: ”What we do is we bring the organic waste in, we shred it and then we place it in these tunnels and seal them up. Basically, what we’re doing is keeping the bugs happy”
After 15 days in the tunnels, water in the waste material will evaporate, and the solids are converted into compost. The compost is fed into a screening deck and usually less than 5 percent of the material before screening is sent to landfill.
A bulk of the compost is sold off to major commercial developments for landscaping needs, thereby a new resource is created from the waste.
This process is much cleaner for the environment. In a landfill, the waste decomposes without oxygen and produces methane, which is a strong greenhouse gas.
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